Oliver
Oliver (オリバー) is a young boy who is the protagonist of Ni No Kuni. He lives a joyful life at first until his mother dies unexpectedly after she saves him from drowning. He cries onto a stuffed toy she made for him and his tears bring the doll to life. The doll says its name is Drippy and there is a chance he can save his mother in his world, through his mothers' soulmate, who are two people who share souls and usually share certain attributes. He is nicknamed Cry Baby Bunting (Meso-kun in Japan) by Drippy. This stems from Oliver's continuous crying before Drippy's revival. Story Oliver, a resident of Motorville. While trying out a new vehicle designed by his friend Philip, Oliver almost drowns, but is saved by his mother Allie; however, she dies from heart problems soon after saving him. As Oliver cries, his tears cause his doll, a gift from his mother, to come to life and reveal itself as a fairy named Drippy, who tells Oliver that he is from another world where an evil wizard named Shadar took control. He also tells Oliver that each person from his world has a "soulmate", a person that shares a link with someone in Oliver's world, and that his mother looks very much like the Great Sage Alicia, who was captured by Shadar. Realizing that Alicia must have been Allie's soulmate, Oliver sets out with Drippy to travel to the other world and rescue Alicia in the hope that doing so will bring Allie back in his world. In the other world, Oliver finds a multitude of broken-hearted people affected by Shadar, and uses his new-found magic abilities to restore those pieces of heart which they lack, and travels the world to seek out the four Great Sages who may be able to help. Along the way, he meets Esther, daughter of one of the Great Sages, and Swaine, a thief who initially steals a crucial item from them, but who ultimately decides to help. As they enlist the sages' help, they learn of a wand known as Mornstar that could be used to defeat Shadar, but are at a loss as to how to retrieve it, as it was recently destroyed by Shadar. Soon after, they find themselves many years in the past by the actions of a stranger, and are able to retrieve the wand there. After returning to the present and retrieving three magical stones to complete the wand, Oliver learns that his mother Allie was in fact the Great Sage, Alicia. Realizing she could not defeat Shadar, and that he had destroyed his soulmate in the other world to avoid the possibility of being defeated through them, she chose to travel into both the future and into Oliver's world in the hopes of finding his next soulmate; after settling into this new world, she eventually gave birth to her son, Oliver, who unknowingly became Shadar's soulmate. After he is defeated, Shadar's past is shown. He was once a soldier who helped a young girl against orders, and whose hometown was destroyed to set an example; a being known as the White Witch called to him to embrace his despair and become the Dark Djinn, Shadar. The spirit of Alicia talks to the dying Shadar, who realises that the girl he saved was the young Alicia herself. Shadar then uses his power to sever the link between himself and Oliver, in order to save Oliver from dying as well. With Shadar defeated, Oliver prepares to return home, but the White Witch appears and casts a spell known as "manna", an ash-like substance that turns all living beings in the three major cities into undead-like creatures. A girl named Pea, who has been appearing to Oliver on occasion, travels with the group and uses her magic to clear the cities of manna and restore the people to normal; the group then travel to defeat the White Witch herself. They discover that she was a young queen called Cassiopeia from thousands of years ago who had noble intentions, but was manipulated by her "council of twelve", calling themselves the Zodiarchs, who desired to run the country. Feeling powerless, she found and used the manna spell, believing it would bring peace and prosperity to her people. When the horrific effects of manna were revealed, she gradually witnessed the death of all of her subjects, including the council, and found herself on her own; she was gradually driven to despair and became the White Witch, believing that all life must be destroyed in an attempt to "start over". Her power created an illusory version of the council to oversee the destruction of the world. The remains of her kind intentions also created Pea, the incarnation of her as a child, to help Oliver on his journey. Pea was sent to Motorville by the spirit of the Wizard King, Cassiopeia's father, to give Oliver his starting wand and teach him gateway so he could eventually save Cassiopeia/The White Witch from herself. Having been defeated, Cassiopeia fuses together with Pea and is restored to her former, kind self. After assisting the group in destroying the Zodiarchy, the last manifestations of the council, Cassiopeia declares that she will dedicate her life to making amends for her actions and Oliver bids farewell to his friends before returning to his old life in Motorville. Battle Role Oliver is a spell-casting strategist. If he ever gets up close to fight enemies, it will be out of desperation. If you are using Oliver as a melee tank by the time you wander into the southern Summerlands, you should expect to measure his lifespan in seconds. Oliver and Marcassin share wands - while Oliver should get preferential treatment (Mornstar and Astra), the Sky Tree Wand (from Errand 136) will go to great lengths in increasing his physical attack, although that weapon may be more suited for Marcassin. Oliver has an affinity with Milites, Vermes, and Dracones familiars. Abilities ]] Oliver has in his possession the historical magic encyclopedia known as The Wizard's Companion, granting Oliver access to a multitude of magic spells. Initially, the book lacks a large number of its pages due to Shadar tearing out most of them, containing only Fireball and Healing Touch, but throughout the course of the game Oliver manages to retrieve all of the remaining pages. Oliver is able to summon familiars to help him on adventures. He is able use wands both as magical conduits and melee weapons, although the latter option deals very low damage except with the Sky Tree Wand. Oliver's Miracle Move is Burning Heart, a powerful skill where he builds up a massive ball of fire before launching it at his target. It deals massive single-target Fire damage. Oliver's most valuable asset, however, stressed throughout the game by many, is his courage, determination and good-willed nature. Appearance During his initial appearance in the game, Oliver wore a yellow shirt, blue trousers, and light red socks and blue and white shoes. Upon reaching the first town in the second/parallel world, he obtains a new set of clothing which is a blue vest over a white shirt, white pants, and red cape. In Castaway Cove, he obtains red swim trunks. When traveling in The Winter Isles, Oliver wears a thick, blue long coat with white linings, dark gloves, and brown boots. He also wears the locket that is able to hold parts of people's hearts around his neck along with almost every outfit excluding his Motorville clothes. Clothes Personality Oliver is a kind-hearted, nice, and polite. In the English version he addresses royalty by their respective titles (an example is calling King Tom XIV/Nyandal his "Meowjesty"), in the NDS version he addresses royalty just as any other character does (meaning if everyone in town calls him "King", so does Oliver). In the Japanese version, Oliver speaks less dialectically than Shizune (Drippy). Oliver has a strong sense of justice. He believes that while the world may be flawed, it's still a place where people strive for the greater good. As seen in various points of the game, he is trusting and kind to strangers, even if they have wronged him once before as seen in various points of the game. His good nature is what causes many characters in the game to trust and help him. Wands For the complete list of wands, see Wands. In the PS3 game, Oliver gets his first wand (an old stick) in Motorville from Pea, as a means to cast the spell Gateway in order to travel to the second world. In the DS game, Shizune (Drippy) tells him to pick up the "wand" from where it lays in the street outside his house. He is given the Magic Wand in Ding Dong Dell after mending King Tom's heart and defeating the Rat King in Ding Dong Well. Oliver gains a legendary wand called Mornstar after being sent back in time by Gallus, which supposedly has the power to break through Shadar's Black Briar. Said wand achieves its full power after Oliver manages to gain the 3 stones that contained its full strength and defeats Khulan's Nightmare, which not only grants the wand a massive Magic Attack boost but allows Oliver to cast Mornstar. After the party bests Gallus near the peak of the Ivory Tower, he gifts Astra to Oliver. Astra, being Mornstar's twin, is one of the strongest wands in the game and also allows Oliver to cast Astra. Through alchemy, players can also gain the Sky Tree Wand, which is done by combining Old Stick from the start of the game with the Mirror Of Truth, the latter of which is obtained by finishing the errand that unlocks upon completing all of Horace's riddles. Said wand has the highest physical attack of any wand in the game, with its sole downside being that it has slightly lower Magic Attack than Astra. Spells Oliver learns an array of spells as he progresses through the game, all which are written down in the game's handbook (which is necessary to play the DS game but is built-in for the PS3 game and Nintendo Switch). Said spells can either be used in battle or are required to progress the game while in the field. Not every spell can be used by Oliver, including the Fairy Spells granted by the Fairy Godmother and the forbidden Ashes of Resurrection. However, Oliver can cast the majority of the spells in the game unlike Marcassin, with the downside of being a slightly slower caster than him. Trivia * Oliver is the only character who has two victory poses in the PS3 game. In his Motorville clothes, he will end the battle by wiping his hand across his forehead and commenting, “Phew…”. In his wizard clothes, he will raise one of his arms into the air and say something like “We did it!” or “We won!” (やったな is said in the Japanese NDS version). Soulmates 'Warning: Contains major spoilers' Oliver has two different soulmates that we meet, in the NDS game both are during the normal game content but in the PS3 one of them is only in the after-game content. * The Conductor/Guide: See his Wiki page for more info. * Shadar/Jabo: See his Wiki page for more info. Speculation There is some speculation that he is the old man from the Ni No Kuni Movie. Old Man During the Ni no Kuni film, an old man appears saying that he has already traveled to the world of Ni no Kuni, and during a flashback, he explains to Yu how the Ni no Kuni world works. Later, while Yu and Haru are fighting against the villain, the old man appears again and hands Yu his staff, which later becomes the Mornstar sword. de:Oliver Category:Characters in Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch Category:Protagonist Category:Humans Category:Males Category:Great Sages Category:Ichi no Kuni Residents Category:Sages